Japan
Japan (Japanese: 日本, Nippon ɲippoꜜɴ (About this soundlisten) or Nihon ɲihoꜜɴ ; formally 日本国, Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, lit. 'State of Japan') was an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south. Japan was the world's 4th largest island country and encompasses about 6,852 islands. The stratovolcanic archipelago has five main islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and Okinawa which make up about 97% percent of Japan's land area. The country is divided into 47 prefectures and unofficially into eight regions, with Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost prefecture. Japan was the 2nd most populous island country. The population of approximately 126 million is the world's eleventh largest, of which 98.5% are ethnic Japanese. 90.7% of people live in cities, while 9.3% live in the countryside. About 13.8 million people live in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world with over 38 million people. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, particularly from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled in the name of the Emperor by successive feudal military shōguns. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. After nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection, the Imperial Court regained its political power in 1868 through the help of several clans from Chōshū and Satsuma – and the Empire of Japan was established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the Japanese surrender. Since adopting its revised constitution on May 3, 1947, during the occupation led by SCAP, the sovereign state of Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet. Japan was a relatively stable nation prior to the Great War. Japanese was considered to be a "patriotic" language by American authorities. Japanese tourists could be found in North America, while American students commonly visited the country. History *Third Sino-Japanese War Regions * Hokkaidō. *Tōhoku. *Kantō. *Chūbu. *Kansai. *Chūgoku. *Shikoku. *Kyūshū & Okinawa Groups Pre-War *State of Japan *Japan Self-Defense Forces *United States Forces Japan (USFJ) *Japanese Communist Party Post-War *The New State Of Japan *The Shogunate *The United Red Army *The Gaijin *Yakuza *Ronin *Ainu Category:Pre-War Nation